The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is rewriting its cyber workforce policy and reviewing current qualifications because it worries that too many cyber experts are underqualified or unprepared for such positions at DOD.

DOD wants to go on a hiring spree of capable cyber experts, but current certifications/qualifications necessary to work for DOD may not be enough to prepare these experts for the job ahead of them.

"One of the biggest threats to the DOD networks is the inability of DOD security professionals to secure the networks," a U.S. Army chief warrant officer assigned to U.S. Army Cyber said. "Many of these security professionals have the required certifications but no understanding how to truly secure the DOD networks and make poor decisions resulting in vulnerable networks."

One main issue is that these experts are merely required to do a lot of book training rather than hands-on training.

"The current requirements aren't turning out people who are prepared," said Jeff Moulton, a senior cyber researcher at the Georgia Tech Research Institute. "The school of hard knocks can teach quite a few lessons, but at DoD that can cost people's lives. Book training is simply not enough."

Another U.S. Army major said that one certification is not enough for an intrusion analyst, infrastructure support, incident responder, auditor and manager because these are five different professions with five completely different skill sets.

The current requirements for cyber security workers was put in place in August 2004 under DOD Directive 8570. It could use an update, especially considering technology and security measures have changed significantly since that time. And the problem is that technology changes so often that it's difficult for DOD to keep up.

"We're rewriting essentially all of the cyber workforce policy, so we are going to have an overarching cyber workforce policy that will include all of the cyber skills including cyber defenders, cyber attackers, malware analysts, all that stuff," said Richard Hale, Deputy Chief Information Officer for DOD Cybersecurity. "Then we will rewrite specific manuals underneath each."

They are the remnants of society that simply can't get a job anywhere else. If you ever do work in a government facility, you'll no longer be astounded at how bad the government is at getting things done - you'll be astounded that anything *ever* gets done.

I second this. The sad part is that they pay well enough to get top notch talent.

They don't need to revise the required credentials... they just need to draw attention to their job opportunities.

I know many people who are more than qualified, myself included, but I have not seen or heard of anyone seeing a DOD job posting.

The truth is, the current process of working or contracting for the DOD appears to be the same as any other government job... they are only attracting 'government/union types' candidates... those people who can't make it in the private sector and know it.

I also endorse this. The biggest problem is once you are in, it is nearly impossible to get rid of you. Unlike the private sector where one needs to at least somewhat compete to maintain their job and pay over time, most government employees can be near worthless for their entire lifetime and it is perfectly acceptable. The old joke is the 80-20 rule, well in the government its more like the 95-5 rule. 95% of the government is worthless, the other 5% make everything happen. While you do occasionally see good talent make its way into the government either through contract or hire, they typically don't last more than 2-3 years before they return to or enter the private sector because they just can't deal with the high level of incompetence prevalent in the government.

Maybe what the DOD needs to do is use private industry to protect them. Yes have a cyber warfare department, but have private businesses using their talent to monitor and block intrusions , trace and destroy those trying to access systems. All well and good to let the DOD do everything but a group of 100 of the best of the best could protect the us much more than the DOD could do, especially if they have access to the tools the DOD has.Imagine having a 100gb fiber connection to your workstation.Imagine having the backdoor to every system in the world.Imagine being able to decrypt with the best and fastest equipment..I can see a small group performing much much better than anything the DOD can do without all the faff involved in the DOD.